Williamtown Resident John Hill is still shaken after the fire raced past his property on Cabbage Tree Road. File Image.

Cabbage Treet Road residents: Cain and Rhianna Gorfine with their children Bronte and Ryan. Ms Gorfine said her property was coming under ember attack, and flames were already licking at its perimeters. File image: Ryan Osland

They were assisted by a very large air tanker called ‘Nancy Bird’ and several water-bombing aircraft. A witness said the fire was no match for the aircraft, which were able to “hammer it into submission”.

"When it started moving down the side of our property, they got a [fire] truck in,” Ms Gorfine said.

“It got really windy and that was the hairiest time. The bush right next to the paddock went up.

"We're just very fortunate there aren't a lot of other fires going on and that resources could be put to the Hunter.”

She described an eerie calm descending over the fire ground as the winds dropped and the flames died down.

“It’s very surreal,” she said at the time.

It’s been the latest knock in a tremendous run of bad luck for residents of Cabbage Tree Road and Barrie Close, who were last forced to defend their homes in 2013 from what was then described as the “worst bushfire in a decade”.